How do I fix my dvd recorder?

I have a RCA dvd recorder. I was having problems with my vcr which it's hooked up to. I unplugged them a bunch of times to try and fix the vcr. The vcr works okay now, but now the dvd recorder is not. It keeps haveing hello go across the front of it. I can't get it to do anything. No buttoms work. I've tried unplugging it some more, holding the standby/power buttom in, and a combo of the two. All I managed was to get the time displayed. Any help/ideas?